WC semis - Netherlands vs Uruguay (Tues 2 ET, ESPN)

[Oh8ch]

I don't know if I would call it cheating. You don't call an intential foul to prevent a basket in basketball cheating. You don't call (intential) holding/pass interferance to prevent a touchdown in football cheating. You call them smart plays. i.e. You make the play that is in your best interest and take the penality (if it is called).

Now something like using a corked bat in baseball, that's what I would call cheating.

What is your definition of cheating? Their is a rule against a corked bat in baseball. There is a rule against flopping in soccer. In both cases you are knowingly breaking the rule.

The difference seems to be that one has become so common we accept it as part of the game. But I would call any knowing violation of the rules in any sport or game cheating.

 

[BB73]

He cheated. Outside the fantasy world of ESPiN sportscasting, people were appalled.

There used to be something called honor and pride in sports. Uruguay, with their constant simulating, do not understand what that means and they didn't deserve to have been in a semi-final.

I've watched every game, and I'd say that the Netherlands has done at least as much diving and embellishing as Uruguay, and are one of the worst offenders in the tournament. I'm glad that the Dutch won, as Uruguay only advanced because of Suarez's goal line handball and the subsequent PK miss, and Suarez's statements about the incident were in poor form. It also stole the glory from Adiyiah, who by rights should have been celebrating a last-minute goal to put an African team into the semis of the World Cup.

But I don't call it cheating. It's intentionally violating a rule because the violation is better than not doing it. It's like what they call a "professional foul", where a defender takes a yellow card and gives a free kick instead of letting a forward go past him with the ball as a serious scoring threat. In my mind cheating is breaking a rule intentionally and hoping that you won't be caught - like a spitball or a corked bat. Or in soccer, a guy using a hidden razor blade to draw blood after a foul in order to draw a card on the opponent (yeah, that's happened). Suarez violated the rules, but he did it as the only chance to prevent a game-winning goal, and he paid the well-known price for the violation (red card and PK).

Rules for a sport need to be constructed so the violators benefit as infrequently as possible. FIFA can decide whether or not they want to have a handball on the goal line be changed somehow. They could make it an automatic goal (unlikely), or they could use the following idea.

For a handball on the goal line, I'd like to see FIFA make it a PK where the violator becomes the goalkeeper but still can't use his hands. In my mind, that's an elegant solution, where the violator has to try to kick or head the ball away, and the chances of success of the PK would be over 90%. IIRC, they're in the low 80s during timed play (when the team can choose the shooter), and around 70% in shootouts (when each team must pick 5 different shooters). It also highlights the violator as the person unable to prevent the goal from being scored, just before leaving the field in shame for the red card.